Let The Adventures Begin...

Bells Beach

After all this time planning our big road-trip, we're really doing it! On Sunday, we moved out of our apartment, super-hungover, after a bit of a hooha with the landlord. Eventually we set off , many hours behind schedule and drove to Geelong where we camped up for the night in a housing-estate (true Pikey style) and had a very cold night's sleep.

On Monday the weather was gorgeous. Geelong is a beautiful town. After getting ourselves all fed and cleaned up at McDonalds, we head off to Bells Beach. There, we were able to watch the surfers close up. Bells Beach is famous for holding huge world surfing competitions and you can really see why. You only think Malin Head has waves. The sheer power of the ocean is so obvious and I had an unfortunate incident with it's force... or rather my flip-flop did. 

The Coffin!
The entire space we had to sleep.

Pretending to cook.

From Bells Beach we drove on with the intention of a barbecue. We stopped off at a little village or "Shire" called Anglesea with the nicest, most helpful locals. We stocked up on food and beer and made our way to Airlie Inn campsite where we finally had our first barbecue of Australia! The camp-site was great, really clean and brilliant facilities. Got a nice warm shower after sleeping in "The Coffin"; the official name for the top bunk of the three-person camper.   

12 Apostles

The Crew

On Tuesday, we drove The Great Ocean Road. I dubbed it "Ocean Road" mostly because I was so scared in the back of the camper driving around winding mountain roads so near to the cliff edge! The feeling was soon to pass and we witnessed the mass and sheer awe of the ocean waves, repetitively smashing the coastline, before being swallowed up by the seemingly endless rainforest drive.  We soon came to the Gibson steps where you see the first of the 12 Apostles, then proceeded to go to the main Apostles site which was amazing. We got there at a great time of day and got some beautiful photos. 

Imagine what this looked like at night...

We drove on from there and came to Yambuk camp-site. When we drove up in the dark, it was really eerie and apparently reminiscent of Wolf Creek. It was ages up a dirt lane and we were the only campers staying at the site. We went to bed pretty early after some issues with the electrics (sounds just like a horror movie right?). But we got a good night's sleep and in the morning the campsite turned out to be gorgeous and remote. It's situated beside it's own lake and a hundred metres from the beach. 

The Harbour town of Portland

Once again, we hit the road and drove as far as Portland, a class, sleepy little harbour town. Even though the stores are Dominos and Subways and the like, it still looks like an 1800's saloon town. After some stocking up and some lunch, we all decided to take a detour to the Grampians before we left Victoria. It turned out to be a huge detour and a lot further than we thought. We had intended to aim for Adelaide but it was dark by the time we got to The Grampians so we decided to stay the night since we wouldn't be able to see anything. A little cranky from the turn of events, a cold beer and some frolicking with the kangaroos soon calmed us down. 

En-route to  the waterfall

McKenzie Falls

The plan was to wake up at 5:30am, before sunrise and set off on a two-hour hike to the pinnacle of The Grampians for the best view. However upon discussion, we realised we would be trekking off up the mountain in the dark. A big no-no with all the spiders and snakes! So we left at 9:30am in the pouring rain and headed off to "The Canyon." We got soaked and our attire showed that we were hiking novices; no raincoats, no proper footwear and no idea of which way to go. We found our way eventually and visited the spectacular sight that is McKenzie Falls. After returning to the campervan and getting fed, we tumble-dried our wet clothes at the camp-site amenities - fondest memories of being so cold and putting on our newly dried and very warm jumpers... Snuggly!! The rain continued to pour and with the forecast predicting storms for the next two days, we decided to continue on the trail and set off for Adelaide once and for all. 

One of the many spectacular views through The Grampians

After a nine and a half hour drive, we arrived in Adelaide, parked up for the night in a random lay-by and zzzzz!!!

Farewell Melbourne

Well today is Friday, May 18th 2012. We are moving out of our apartment on Grey St, St. Kilda on Sunday and heading North in two rented camper vans. We collected them today and it's just made the whole journey ahead of us seem real. The road trip we've decided to take over the course of 21 days starts in Melbourne and ends in Darwin. We'll cover around 4000km. It will be like driving from Donegal to past the middle of Africa. This is a link for a bike tour doing the same route we hope to. Except we're just doing it by our own devices. Eek! Biker Tour Melbourne to Darwin. I'm scared and excited and a little sad to leave Melbourne. We didn't intend on staying here this long but we all know how time has a way of eluding you.


The last few months have really flown by. We start to feel like we live here now; jobs, rent, routine. Because of this, we haven't really put ourselves out there too much and lost a little of the adventure spirit. In saying that, I would most definitely recommend Melbourne as a brilliant city to live in. It just has a really cool energy about it. I don't think I'll miss our specific location in Grey St, St. Kilda though, as it turned out to be the main  prostitute street in the area. The girls themselves are nice enough, but it does definitely bring down the whole feel of the place when you're walking along on a beautiful day and there's a drugged up prostitute waving at all the passing cars. Well, you live and learn.

Overlooking beloved Melbourne
 at the Eureka Skydeck Building

I've taken some lessons from Melbourne. I've learned how to make coffee, how to bar-tend. I've learned that to be even better behind the bar, having a few yourself is compulsory. Alcohol definitely makes you better at this job. I've learned that contrary to popular belief at home, Australia is not one big continent of fantastic weather. In Autumn and Winter, Melbourne is cold, overcast, very windy and very wet. I've learned that you never work for an Irish person. And I've learned that fun and adventure have to come first over money or work. It's an easy one to forget.



A few days ago Barney and I celebrated being together five years by having a gorgeous Malaysian dinner and a scrummy bottle of wine, whilst mastering the art of chopsticks. Thankfully we haven't fallen victim to the curse of Australia breaking up all couples who enter.

So bring on the first leg of our epic road-trip, The Great Ocean Road! Eight people, two campers, twenty one days...